A large contactor used to switch large electrical loads in the airplane appears to be at the center of the problematic smoke that caused the first emergency landing of the Dreamliner. (www.manufacturing.net) Mehr...

"This new system delivers a cost-effective solution to increase airport capacity, decrease air traffic noise and reduce weather-related delays." I am all for a precision approach, but doesn't this take too much plain old piloting away from the people in the cockpit? What happens if the military switches off the GPS birds, or a sloar event turns them off for us? I always liked the red and green boxes on the runway to let you know if you are on the correct slope. (www.gpsworld.com) Mehr...

Two companies and seven individuals will be tried in France because they traded EADS shares with insider information. John Leahy is said to have had information concerning problems with the A350 and A380 programs when he sold shares in 2006. He faces a sentence of 2 years in jail and a fine of about $ 2 million. The A380 program has not shown a profit. (www.bloomberg.com) Mehr...

City of Industry is now home to a vintage Pan Am 747 first class traveling section with the upper deck. The builder recently served dinner "in flight" for guests prepared in a working galley and served on authentic plates, linens, and silverware in the classic Pan Am style by former flight attendants in uniform. This is the work of a collector who works for United but has been gathering Pan Am artifacts since UAL bought the Pacific routes from the shrinking Pan Am. (www.whittierdailynews.com) Mehr...

United Flight 869 was about an hour into its flight to Hong Kong Saturday when a cracked cockpit window forced the pilot to turn around and land at San Francisco. United needs to click safelite.com (sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com) Mehr...

China has wanted to build an in-house jet engine since the revolution. They have not been able to make a stable engine and have relied on engines supplied by "foreign devils" (literal translation of characters for outsiders)for their civil and military aircraft. Will 16 to 49 billion buy them a jet? (www.aviationweek.com) Mehr...

A fire truck responding to a drunk driver smashing into a police car drives into the rotors of a helicopter that brought a paramedic to help 3 injured policemen. The crash was caught on camera. (howtoflyahelicopter.com) Mehr...

The X47B is a carrier based drone research aircraft. Autonomous refueling has huge potential for commercial airplanes. Long haul heavies and supers use 20% of their fuel to carry the fuel. Imagine the savings if they could meet a tanker enroute to take on enough to complete the flight. Perhaps a bit of the savings could be slipped in the pilots pay packet? (electronicdesign.com) Mehr...

Billionaire Finch helps Reece protect a passenger in 4C. Finch is in an abandoned NYC library and takes control of a jet by hacking into the control computer and controlling the plane with a desktop simulator yoke and throttle. Solid fiction, pilots will have a few laughs. (www.cbs.com) Mehr...